-
DAMN, BALLS AND BLAST (the 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time, number, erm, 16).

Or, the follies of trying to cram a huge data analysis project into your vanishingly sparse amount of free time. Okay. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but it should be the last. Back when I started this ill-considered endeavour, right in the initial post, I mentioned that there will almost definitely be…
-
The 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (12 and 11)

Back with a pair of shows that come as close as you can imagine to the final Top Ten. 12: Flog It! (Shown 4530 times, 2002-2021) Waiting. There’s something that should be obsolete in this day and age. If you order something off the internet, you want it to arrive the next day. If you…
-
Splashdown! It’s The 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (14 and 13)

It’s Saturday. It’s 12:15pm. The Weatherman just told us how rubbish the weather this weekend will be, so it’s time for… um. 14: Escape to the Country (Shown 4365 times, 2002-2021) Richie: “Still, I did my bit for the country.” Eddie: “What, you stayed in the town?” Richie: “Absolutely.” Now admittedly, and it might be…
-
Paging Dr Clitterhouse! It’s The 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (16 and 15)

“We interrupt this programme to bring you a football game.” 16: Match of the Day (Shown 4055 times, 1964-2021) Well, here’s one that was always going to appear, and one where I probably need to clarify the criteria for inclusion. In general with this list, where something had specific programme branding applied to it and…
-
Silenza: Ne Televisione (The 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time, 18 and 17)

On with this list! 18: The ONE Show (Shown 3400 times, 2006-2021) Apparently, ‘ONE’ is capitalised, despite the title being all lower-case in the title sequence. What’s the deal with that? There are some TV reboots that will never, ever be a success until – against all reasonable logic – they just are. When the…
-
Mum’s Tape
It’s one of those moments that pretty much everyone prepares for mentally, possibly years or even decades in advance, yet hits you unexpectedly when it actually happens. Last week, that moment happened to me. My mum died. Obviously, there’s no ‘best case scenario’ for such a life event. Even your mother gallantly sacrificing herself by…
-
Wake Up Mario! It’s the 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (20 and 19)

Here we go. Top twenty. Big leagues. Every programme from this point on an absolute titan of British broadcasting. Starting with… 20: Working Lunch (Shown 3296 times, 1994-2010) I’m willing to admit, this is a bit of a surprise. For a programme that would go on to become the 20th most-broadcast programme in the BBC’s…
-
BABY BAB-AI! It’s the 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (22 and 21)

So close we can taste that top twenty. 22: Eggheads (Shown 3049 times, 2003-2021) Hang on, what’s a Channel 5 programme doing on here? Admittedly, I really don’t know much about the series. Never watched it, and one time some work colleagues were thinking of taking part, and one suggested to me that they’d like…
-
The 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (24 and 23)

I’m back from holiday. With exhaustion and a cold, which feels unfair. Anyway, back to the chart rundown that’s dragging on so long you’ve lost interest. 24: Teletubbies (Shown 2977 times, 1997-2009) Eh? Oh. It’s funny how, once a product of a genre becomes truly massive, most people completely forget what had previously seemed to…
-
The 100 Most-Broadcast BBC Programmes Of All Time (26 and 25)

The next episode of the rundown. And a concerted effort not to bang on about everything for so long. We’ll see. And so, resisting the temptation to pretend Does China Exist? is at number 25 as an April Fool prank, here are the next couple of programmes. 26: The Weakest Link (Shown 2923 times, 2000-2021)…
